My mother attached a slinky on the post of her bird feeders, no more squirrel problems!! Bought it on Amazon

We had the same problem with squirrels- owl doesn’t work, but ultrasonic pest deterrents did work! I know some don’t believe in them, but they are solar & detect motion - had them for over a year & no squirrels on screen anymore!

If you have the receipt return it!

Try getting some realistic rubber snakes and put them up there! If they don’t scare the squirrels they will at least scare your neighbors!

During squirrel season and since you cannot shoot them in the villages. Trap them, kill them and they are quite tasty barbecued in the crock pot or fried up.

I have had to put TWO plastic owls on my birdcage to keep the big water birds off. I put them in the corners with a medium sized L-bracket. Drilled two holes in the bottom of the owl (can put a bolt on one by reaching through the hole) and 2 holes on the vertical piece of the bird cage frame. Works great!
Recommend the owls with moving head $18 on Amazon.

Harry Potter
 

Check with Harry Potter.

Squirrel away
 

It is easier to shake, Squirrel Away, on the ground twice a year. Found it at Ace. Also use Snake Away.

Squirrels are too smart to be fooled with a plastic owl. They seem to be smarter than some people. Make a jalapeno spray with boiling water and soak a cut up jalapeno in it. Strain it and spray it on your screen. It also makes a good plant spray that keeps chewy bugs away.

Meat is kind of tough, used to have them via road kill before moving here.

Do you have recipe for a good squirrel marinade?

No shortage of amusing suggestions. As to using sand, I doubt it will stay up in a storm.
In any case you need to keep moving where the owl is to have it be effective.

Some have said shoot them. This is not farm country and it is illegal.
Some have said have a hart traps and move them. I think that too is illegal.
While it is illegal to do so, if you trap one drown it. A squirrel in a have a hart trap?
They are far bigger when you try to open the door to let one go then they look in a tree.
It is a huge RAT with a furry tail.

I screwed a 1/2" piece of PVC to one of the uprights using sheet metal screw; the hawk/owl slides over this and moves in the wind a little. It was effective for about a month and then the tree rats were back climbing on the screen.

food in lanai
 

I agree, I had bird food in the lanai. I had it double wrapped in heavy plastic, in a locked heavy plastic container and the squirrels were STILL all over my screens trying to get into it. I had to take the container into the garage. I still keep it wrapped up that way tho, just to make sure nothing could get into it.

Since my back yard is one of the forest preserves, I do not appreciate pests being relocated there. However, I am sure our resident family of bobcats wouldn’t complain.

Squirrels and owls
 

I agree 100%. First, no squirrel has EVER eaten into my cage, but I mounted TWO owls and it did not keep them away. I had them up for over 10 years and the only way I ever get rid of squirrels was the Hav-a-Hart trap and relocation (30+ in one year). If something is eating through your cage, you can be pretty sure it is rats. I have TEN "rat hotels" around my cage, refill them with poison every three months, and rarely do I find no bait has been eaten. But NOTHING has eaten through my cage in years and I've never even seen a rat, so they're eating the the poison and dying. (You can get all you need from domyownpestcontrol.com at a reasonable price.)

Maybe you can buy a motion activated owl..hmm research it.